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From San Francisco’s perspective, the Warriors arena deal may go down as one of the finest instances ever of turning a lemon into lemonade.

The lemon was an out-of-the-blue call in early March from one of Larry Ellison‘s lieutenants, informing Mayor Ed Lee‘s staff that the Oracle founder’s America’s Cup team was cutting back on its development plans. A full rehab of Piers 30-32, the centerpiece of the plan, in exchange for a long-term lease from the port was turning out to be too costly.

The lemonade machine kicked into gear a few days later when the Warriors’ owners called asking to look at the site.

For months, city officials and the team had been talking quietly about the franchise shifting from Oakland to a San Francisco waterfront site, possibly a little farther south at Pier 50, across the cove from AT&T Park.

As luck would have it, the Piers 30-32 site near the foot of the Bay Bridge had already been studied to death by Ellison’s crew, so there were no real surprises for the Warriors when it came to the $100 million estimate for pier fix-up costs.

One look and “it was game over,” said team President Rick Welts.

The big irony is that Ellison himself had hoped to buy the Warriors when they were up for sale in 2010, but lost out to Silicon Valley’s Joe Lacob and Hollywood’s Peter Guber - and now he may have handed them a new home.

What luck: Talk about bad timing – Oakland Mayor Jean Quan was trying her luck in Las Vegas this week when the Warriors dropped their bombshell that they wanted to pull up stakes and move to San Francisco.

Quan left for Vegas on Sunday to attend the International Council of Shopping Centers convention, which bills itself as the largest retail trade show in the world.

She spoke on a panel with four other mayors called, “America’s Cities – Rebuilding, Revitalizing, Redeveloping.”

According to her office, the panel focused on “innovative economic development programs” that cities have devised to deal with hard times.

It also focused on new strategies for public-private partnerships.

Meanwhile, back in Oakland, word was leaking out that the Warriors had opted for a new partnership across the bay – kicking out one of the legs of Quan’s planned “Coliseum City” complex that was to include new homes for the Warriors, Raiders and A’s.

The mayor returned Tuesday afternoon, after issuing a statement that her plan “was never dependent on any one tenant. It was always a larger project than just one sports team.”

It’s not the first time Quan had been MIA when bad news hit. When the Oakland police finally cleared out an Occupy encampment in front of City Hall in October, setting off a night of mayhem, Quan was in Washington lobbying for a grant for the Port of Oakland.

She didn’t have much luck with the feds, either.

Don’t let the door hit you: Mayor Jean Quan and other Oakland officials might be playing nice with the Warriors in hopes the team will reconsider its San Francisco move, but that’s not Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty‘s strategy.

“F- Joe Lacob,” Haggerty said of the team’s co-owner. “It’s a slap in the face for the East Bay fans who for decades have supported a mediocre team. And this is how he repays them?”

Of course, the team doesn’t have to worry about selling its arena deal to Haggerty. It does have to persuade the State Lands Commission and regional Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and potential obstacles loom already.

David Lewis of the environmental group Save the Bay doesn’t see any of the maritime uses that a waterfront project is supposed to have. “We’re talking about a closed facility that blocks views,” he said.

But on the lands commission, at least, which will decide if the arena has the right “public benefits,” the Warriors and city officials figure they have a good friend – the panel’s chairman, Lt. Gov. and former Mayor Gavin Newsom.

The owners have called a news conference for Wednesday, but they’ve already alerted some of their Union Square neighbors about the move.

Publicist Lee Houskeeper confirmed only that “an announcement about the future of the Gold Dust will be made” at the presser – and that Board of Supervisors President David Chiuwill be on hand.

The bar is closing on Powell Street later this week, neighboring businesses have been told, and hopes to reopen at the Wharf in four months.

The operators of the Gold Dust “never contacted us, but we’re pleased they’re doing what we suggested they do months ago,” said Sam Singer, a spokesman for the Gold Dust’s landlord, Handlery Hotels. “This is the best solution for everyone.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com.